The invention generally relates to wireless networks, and more specifically to a virtualized open wireless services software architecture.
Wireless networks include many different functions that are typically mapped to different devices. For example, a 3G/4G network includes base stations, Radio Network Controllers (RNCs), Serving GPRS Support Nodes (SGSNs), Gateway GPRS Support Nodes (GGSNs), Serving Gateways (SGWs), Packet Data Network Gateways (PGWs), Mobile Management Entities (MMEs), Digital Phone Interface (DPI) probes, traffic analyzers, firewalls, Policy and Charging Rules Functions (PCRFs), Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) servers, Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) databases, charging servers, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) proxies, traffic optimizers, video optimizers, and so forth. As these wireless networks have evolved, each additional function that is added has required the introduction of a new device that hosts that function or multiple hardware processors in the same device hosting different functions.